Business Society and Planet: Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line & Business

This article explores the concepts, issues, challenges, and recommendations related to sustainability, the triple bottom line, and business. It discusses the three components of the triple bottom line, the role of the Global Reporting Initiative, the challenges faced by companies in adopting the TBL approach, and recommendations for expanding sustainability efforts. The article concludes by emphasizing the flexibility of the TBL approach in allowing companies to implement the concept in a manner that suits their specific needs.

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Business Society and Planet
Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line & business

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Concepts and Approaches of Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line & Business.......................................2
Issues related to Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line & business............................................................3
Challenges related to Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line & business....................................................4
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................5
References...................................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
The Triple Bottom Line is amongst the major systems which are being used by the businesses to
evaluate their profits they are making with the help of their corporate sustainability solutions.
The methodology of Triple Bottom Line helps us to see outside the traditional bottom line of
business so that the profits can be made in such a way that it helps the society to grow socially
and economically and its acts do not harm the environment as well. So, in this article, self-
reflection shall be done on the various aspects of Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line &
business.
Concepts and Approaches of Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line & Business
According to me, the three components of Triple Bottom Line are people and community i.e.
social accountability, planet i.e. the sustainability of the environment and profit i.e. bottom line.
Sustainability means the process of maintaining change in a balanced manner in which the
resources are exploited and the technological developments occur in a harmonized way with a

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view to enhancing the current and future possibilities to meet the needs of the human beings
(Stenzel, 2010).
In this context, the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) in association with a Boston
Based nonprofit organization has developed the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). It provides
criteria for measuring the behavior of the company in each segment of TBL.
Issues related to Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line & business
According to me, the main function of TBL is to make the business aware of the environmental
and social values they help in enhancing or destroying in the world along with the addition of the
economic worth. It has been seen that business has become more sustainable and socially and
environmentally conscious that they are reluctant to involve in activities which cause harm to the
society.
As they analyze the impact of their activities on the atmosphere and society, they make more
beneficial decisions for the environment and society. I believe that the corporate world has
willingly improved the performance on the non-economic issues by adapting the TBL approach
(Sridhar & Jones, 2013).
In order to effectively analyze the social and environmental issues, the agenda of TBL must
develop the transdisciplinary lines which assimilate the social and natural science with
economics. In my opinion, the issues covered in the TBL approach revolve around measurement
of the social performance of the businesses, their integration, ranking, compliance and ranking
through standards to enhance corporate reputation ( Hild, 2010).

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But it has also been observed that while combining and competing for the various essentials of
profitability, environmental protection and social justice, the TBL approach has been having
been problematic. So, in order to take into account the environmental and social issues in an
effective way, the framework of TBL has to be embedded in an economic and quantitative
model.
Challenges related to Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line & business
The challenges faced by the companies in adopting the TBL approach is shifting their priorities
towards more holistic models of performance assessments which include the methods related to
measuring the performance of various stakeholders. The major challenges are faced by the
companies in integrating the financial accountabilities with economic, environmental and social
performance besides the consequences for business strategies of the future.
I believe that another challenge confronted by the companies is that they fail to measure the
social and environmental impacts. They also fail to aggregate the total elements of the social and
environmental bottom line. The units of measurements cannot be defined for the items as diverse
as donations to charities, progressive hiring and sexual harassment lawsuits (Miranda, 2018).
Recommendations
The leading professional organizations have brought sustainability-related contents to their
publications and programming systems. There is ample room for the expansion of these efforts,
so it has been recommended that the concepts of TBL are added to the core competencies which
are required for the long-term sustainability of the organization (Hammer & Pivo, 2017).

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I insist that the universities which are offering degrees and certificates of economic development
should also comprise of fundamental sustainability skills and knowledge as the main component
in keeping the accreditation standards for business and planning programs. The education and art
programs must be funded which are holistic and beneficial.
The economic aspects of TBL can be implemented in Food and Agriculture industry by
exploring new models which support the sustainable products while raising awareness amongst
the public regarding the value of the organic and biodynamic farming. The organizations should
be funded which are devoted to the implementation of the sustaining, regenerating and
safeguarding the ecosystem of the earth, especially which are system based, integrated and
culturally relevant approaches. A ‘Community Sustainability Partnership ‘should be developed
so that a roadmap to lead the organization to sustainability can be evolved (Slaper & Hall, 2011).
Conclusion
Hence to conclude, it can be said that TBL has changed the way the organizations, governments
and nonprofit organizations are measuring the criteria for performance and sustainability of the
projects. I support the point that apart from measuring the sustainability on three fronts –planet,
profits and people, TBL is flexible enough to allow the companies to implement the concept in a
manner which suits to their specified needs.

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References
Hammer , J. & Pivo , G.(2017).The Triple Bottom Line and Sustainable Economic
Development Theory and Practice. Economic Development Quarterly, 31(1),
1-12.
Hild, C.I.R.(2010). Sustainability through Profitability: The Triple Bottom Line. Kimmel
Education and Research Center .Retrieved August 5th , 2018 from
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
article=1008&context=kimmelpapers
Miranda, C. (2018). The Breakthrough Thinking of the Triple Bottom Line. Cultivating Capital.
Retrieved August 5th , 2018 from
https://www.cultivatingcapital.com/business-sustainability-triple-bottom-line/
Slaper, T.F. & Hall, T.J.(2011). The Triple Bottom Line: What Is It and How Does It Work?
Indiana Business Review. Retrieved August 5th , 2018 from
http://www.ibrc.indiana.edu/ibr/2011/spring/pdfs/article2.pdf
Sridhar, K. & Jones, G.(2013).The three fundamental criticisms of the Triple Bottom Line
approach: An empirical study to link sustainability reports in companies
based in the Asia-Pacific region and TBL shortcomings. Asian Journal of
Business Ethics,2013(2),91-111.
Stenzel , P.L.(2010). Sustainability, the Triple Bottom Line, and the Global Reporting Initiative.
Global Edge Business Review,4(6),1-2.